Youth Group

I am not quite sure what to do with my Youth Group. I picked a topic that I thought was relevant -- Lent -- and threw in several games and activities as well as a mini-lesson about prayer, fasting and almsgiving, the three pillars of Lent, to give them some idea of how to make this Lent meaningful for themselves.

What I got in return was a bunch of kids talking over me, texting friends on their Blackberrys, and making paper airplanes out of my handouts. One repeatedly threw her airplane at my head.

I want to be a good youth minister and educate my kids about the Church, but it's extremely frustrating every time I put a lot of energy and time into making what I think is a relevant and helpful talk aimed at their age group and they completely ignore me. It's very tempting to have play-days all the time -- Christmas parties, Easter parties, costume parties, games days, etc., anything so they build community and have fun but they don't ever have to talk about anything Church-y. But we're a Church youth group, and I'm just not sure sometimes how to get my point across without getting hit in the head by a paper airplane, or a basketball, or worse.

I'm so frustrated I am ready to scour the help wanted ads, but then I realize we're in a recession/depression and there aren't any jobs going. Sigh. Today was a lot more work than ministry.